Harrow.



' A. J. CUMMER.

HARROW.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 31 IQIB- 7 1,293,353. Patented Feb. 4, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEEI' l.

,A. J. CUMMER.

HARROW. I

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3i, 1 918- 1,293,853, Patented Feb. 4, 1919.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2- EARROW. 7

Application filed July 31, 1918. Serial No. 247,591.

harrows which employ a continuous spiral blade as the soil pulverizing instrumentality, one object of the invention being to reduce the weight of the frame and to so arrange the harrow-adjusting devices that the harrow may be set at the desired angle with less elfort than is required with the machines now in common use. A further object of the invention is to so construct the harrow that the end thrust will be received upon the inner bearing and to provide a construction which will permit the inner and outer bearings to be readily interchanged when the inner bearing has become worn so that the life of the harrow will be prolonged.

These several objects and such other objects as will incidentally appear in the course of the following description are obtained in such a mechanism as is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of aharrow embodying my improvements and showing the axes of the blades disposed .at a right angle to the draft tongue;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through the .axis of the blade;

Fig. 4: i a detail transverse section on the line H ofFig. 1,

Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of the weight support or trough. V Theframe of my improved harrow comprises a draft pole .or tongue 1 having a whifiietree or other draftapplying devices mounted thereon, as shown at 2. To the rear end of the tongue is secured a seat standard 3 having a seat 4: upon its upper end and a foot rest 5 near its lower end. A trussed beam 6 is secured to the rear end of the tongue and projects from eac'h side thereof, the upper member'of the beam extending over the end of the seat standard 3 and the lower member of said beam extending under the tongue, as shown. Obliquely disposed braces 7 extend between the tongue and the beam so that a rigid structure is a Iran STATES PATE} ARTHUR J. GUMMER, or DUBUQUE, IOWA, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF TO :ennniitn VICTOR xnnrnn, or DUBUQUE, IOWA I Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb.

produced and the beam will be enable withstand the strain imposed upon thejt e ends thereof. An inverted stirrup posed under the rear end of the tongue is secured thereto by the same boltswhiehfiosecure the beam and the seat stand rd to; the same as clearly shown in Fig. inverted stirrup 8 is provided with aplfural f ity of perforations 9 in its sides anjd a pinl 10 is inserted through and supported in c tam of said opening to support a roller l between the sides of the stirrup the funo t1on of this construction being presently; more fully set forth; Between the members, of the transverse beam 6, at the ends there. of, I secure links 12 which GXtGIld JI'BElfwardly from the beam and are equipped with vertically disposed pintles 13 at their, rear extremities, said pintles engaging in socket members 14 secured upon the. front sides of the harrow-carrying bars 151a t'h centers of the same, as clearly she ;in, Fig. l. The said harrow-carryinggbargjfi; having their end portions bent rear 'wardlyf and extended downwardly, as shownat 15,, thereby providing a U shaped support for; the harrow between the ends of Whi h the; axle and the blade are mounted; I -the, front sides of the members 15, Ifscure the; truss braces 17 whereby the necessaryfilriz 8 5 gidity is imparted to the structures .To-the. extremities of the downwardly andreare. wardly extending side members l6, ',ITsecure' castings 18 which are provided .withit inw wardly extending studs or pins 19 andhalve their outer surfaces convex as shown-at 2,0; the studs or pins 19 being engagedzin sock: ets at the ends of the axle and'.,the;convex surfaces 20 permitting the abutting. faces of the castings at the inner ends ofzztlie 95,. frames to ride easily upon each .othenin all positions of the harrows and receive .the lend' thrust. The axle of the harrow consistsssofaa series of spools 21 arranged in .axial jaline- 10.0 ment with their ends in contact...land .ea.ch provided in one end with a socket to;.re ceive the inner end of a spokey22emThe spools 21 are fitted upon a long-bolt roriiflod 23 and the ends of this rod or :bolt; maybe secured in any desired manner asbyli means of a nut 24, so that the spools willbe clamped together and will thereby be caused to; r0, tate with the blade and preventreleaseerif the spokes. The blade 25 is amcontinuons 1'10 spring metal ribbon disposed in a spiral around the axle and having its ends secured to endspokes 22 and also secured at intermediate portions of its length to intermediate spokes 22, as will be readily understood with reference to Fig. 3. The ribbon is slightly dished so that when the harrow is drawn over the field and the ribbon is revolving and cutting into'the soil the thrust or resistance exerted upon the blade by the soil will be transmitted to the inner bearing thereby permittingthe harrow to be more easily adjusted to'a desired angle. At each end of the axle is a socket or bearing member 26 having its closed end abutting the adjacent head of the end spool '21 and receiving the end of the bolt or rod 23. Withinthe socket member 26 'I fit a bearing block 27 which is axially bored to receivethe trunnion l9 and is alsoprovided With'an 'oil passage 28 which is adapted to register with the outlet from the oil cup 29 secured upon the socket member 26, as clearly shown ,in Fig. 3. It will thus be readily understood that the harrow revolves upon a stationary pin or trunnion at each end and lubricant may flow freely to the said trunnion or pin so that the frictional wear will be minimized and the narrow may rotate easily'at all times. Should the inner bearingblock'27 become worn through long continued'use so that the narrow would not rotate freely, the said bearing block may be readily withdrawn and interchanged with the block at the outer end of the axle so that no appreciable time will be lost from the use of the harrow. It will also be understood that the side members 16, being free attheir extremities, will be sufliciently resilient to p'ermit them to be readily sprung so'asto withdraw'the trunnions 19 from the bearing blocks '27 while at the same time they willnormally hold said parts in engagement. Should the side members 16 be too heavyto'be readily sprung away from the h'arrow, the bolts by which a casting 18*is secured to the side member may be easily removed temporarily so that the desired separation of the parts may be effected.

Upon each side of the draft tongue 1,'adja'cent the rear end thereof, I fulcrum a hand lever 30 which is equipped with a latch 31 adapted to engage a holding rack or segment 32 secured upon the draft'tongue concentric with the fulcrum of the lever. The lower end of the lever depends below the tongue and is pivoted to the front end of a link 33 which extends between the side members of the inverted stirrup 8 and below the roller 11 mounted within said stirrup, the rear extremity of the link beingpivoted to an ear or lug 34 projecting forwardly from the narrow-supporting bar 15 at the inner end thereof. This car or lug may conis the construction illustrated in 'thedrawings. It will 'be readily noted that by oscillating a hand lever, the link 33 connected therewith will be moved forwardly or rear- Wardly and, consequently, the corresponding barrow-supporting member with the harrow caused to swing about the pivot 13 so that the blade may be easily brought into any desired 'angle'relative-to the draft tongue. p

The castings 18 are constructed with socket members 35 inwhichthe extremities of the side members 16are"sec'ured and are also constructed with similar sockets 36 which, when the parts are properly assembled, will be vertically disposed, as shown in Fig. 2. These'socket members 36 receive the lower ends of standards37 which haveU-sh'aped supports 01' heads 38 at their upper ends. One'of these standards and heads is provided at "each endof'e'ach harrow and a trou-gh39 is disposed longitudi nally over each harrow and has its ends resting in and secured to "thefrespectively adjacent heads 38, as shown in Fig. 5. lVhen the soil is packed firmly and is so hard that the harrow blade tends to merely ride on-the surface Without cutting into the same, weights may be placed in the trough 39 so as to exert pressure-through thea'xle ofthe narrow and efie'ct-the'desiredpenetration.

It is thought the advantages-of my improved harrow wi11 bereadi1y understood from what has "beensaid. So far as I am aware, spiral harrows heretofore constructed have einployeda frame'the full width of the machine 'sothat thew'eight ofthe driverand the frame was thrownon the "outer ends of the axles and it was, therefore, 'very diflicult to shift the harroWs. Moreover, inasmuch as the frame was fastened-to the outer ends of the harrows, along sweep of the lever was necessary to adju-st the harrows to the desired angle but inasmuch as it was impossible to provide center=bearings for a harrow having as'p'iral blade, nomeans of overcoming these disadvantages-had-been devised prior to m'y invention. By mounting the harrows midway their'e'nd's, as herein shown and described, I am enabled to use a narrower supporting franieand to efiect the desired adjustment'o-f the harrows with a shorter sweep ofthe operating lever inasmuch as both ends ofthe harrow will move in arcs and, consequently, a slight movement of the adjusting lever-Will "effect a relatively large shifting ofthe'opposite ends of the narrow. As the end thrust on the axle is received on the inner end-of the same and this end is protected from sand and dust it will Wear longer than if the thrust Were received-onthe collar at'the outer end of the harrow and when the wear upon the boxes becomes noticeable they can be interchanged readily so that practically a new set of bearings will be provided. So far as I am aware,'it has not been practicable heretofore to mount weight boxes upon spiral harrows, but by providing the T-shaped end brackets, as herein set forth on each end of the gang or harrow, I am enabled to mount a weight trough upon the harrow so that the desired penetration of the soil may be attained under all conditions. The links 33 are held down by reason of their upper edges riding under the roller 11 so that said links will always be in the proper position to exert a direct pull upon the harrow sup porting bar and the roller may be set at any desired height to maintain the harrow in the proper operative position.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. In a spiral harrow, the combination of a frame, a harrow-supporting member pivotally mounted intermediate its ends upon said frame, means for swinging said supporting member about its pivotal mounting,

bearings at the ends of said supporting member, an axle secured in and extending between said bearings, spools mounted upon said axle end to end and provided in their ends with notches, spokes fitted in said notches, and a continuous spiral ribbon secured to the ends of said spokes, the ribbon being so disposed as to transmit the thrust to the inner end of the axle. 2. In a spiral harrow, the combination of a harrow supporting member, brackets at the ends of said member provided with inwardly projecting trunnions, bearing blocks mounted to rotate about said trunnions, socket members receiving said bearing blocks, an axle secured in and extending between said socket members, spools fitted upon said axle, spokes carried by said spools, and a continuous spiral ribbon secured to the outer ends of said spokes.

3. In a spiral harrow, the combination of a harrow supporting member, brackets secured to the ends of said member and having vertically disposed sockets, a harrow rotatably mounted upon and extending between said brackets, T-shaped members secured in said vertically disposed sockets and rising therefrom, and a trough carried by the upper ends of said T-shaped members.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ARTHUR J. cum/1E3. a 3.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Yatents,

Washington, D. 0. 

